Webmaster's Note: The following piece was actually written by MRS. B. O. Wilbour, who was a founding
member and first Regent (president) of the Gaspee Chapter of the
Daughters of the American Revolution. It is largely sourced from
the accounts of Ephraim Bowen. Spelling and
style has been standardized after scanning.

THE
DESTRUCTION OF THE GASPEE

AND
THE REASONS
THEREFORE

_______________

B. O. Wilbour

Regent, D.A.R. of Rhode Island

_______________

1892

Standard
Printing Company, Providence

The Destruction of the Gaspee and the
Reasons Therefore

The
destruction of the Gaspee June 10,
1772, was an audacious act.At the time,
although energetic protests were going to the British throne from our
fathers against
the tyrannical measures which the British ministry and parliament
seemed bent
on executing, almost everybody in the thirteen colonies professed
loyalty to
the king. Here and there a bold man might avow his purpose to resist by
force
unreasonable statutes. Here and there a far-sighted patriot might
discern from
the signs of the times the contest which finally sundered the union
between the
colonies and the parent government. The word Independence was never
spoken save
with bated breath. Our fathers were warmly attached to the fatherland,
and
dreamed not of separation, and yet, nearly three years before the
battle of
Lexington, more than three years before the conflict on Bunker Hill,
the
British schooner Gaspee was seized by
an armed force of citizens of Providence and burnt.

If
the waters of Providence river were not crimsoned with blood, it was no
fault
of the assailants. They came prepared to conquer or die. One of them
shot the
Commander of the vessel, and but for the timidity of the crew of the Gaspee, others would have been wounded
or slain.

Technically
the deed was treason. The brave band, led by John Brown and Abraham
Whipple
were liable to imprisonment or death.Unless
they had strongly confided in the sympathy of their townsmen or
neighbors,
their deed was arrant quixotism. But their confidence in these
neighbors was
not misplaced. Though hundreds knew who were the ringleaders in the
plot,
everybody maintained secrecy, and no reward tendered by the Governor of
Rhode
Island or by the British ministry availed to bring the offenders to
trial.
These facts show that deep irritation stirred the hearts of the people
in
Providence plantations.

A
recital of a few historic facts will answer the inquiry as to the
causes that
led to the seizure of the Gaspee. The
war which ended in 1763 had revealed the mighty strength of the British
colonies. Thousands of the people had become accustomed to the
privation and
restraint of the camp, and the peril of the battlefield. They had
enjoyed the
training of European officers, and had attained self reliance and
skill. And,
on the whole, save in the sacrifice of precious lives, the colonists
had gained
by the strife. They had taken many valuable prizes, which added to the
material
wealth of the people, and their gains had been swelled by the wages of
service.
But the parent government had had enormous expenses, and a large
addition been
made to the national debt. Under such circumstances it is hardly
surprising
that the British ministry conceived the plan of partly reimbursing the
government by taxing the colonies. Selfish statesmen argued, we have
made large
outlays for the protection of the colonies, and they ought to pay a
part of the
interest at least of our national debt. But the proposal was unwelcome
to our
fathers.

In
the first place, their ancestors had been at great pains to remove to
this
then, waste, howling wilderness. They had endured trial and privation,
and with
their own hands, hewn down the forests and carved out their farms. They
had
drawn riches from the seas, and sent their ships to foreign lands to
carry on a
gainful traffic. But they largely drew their supplies of manufactured
goods
from Great Britain. British merchants reaped a harvest from their
trade. If
they never paid a dollar to the English treasury directly, they yet
helped the
British merchant and artisan to pay their taxes by the profits of
colonial
trade. Farther than this, the colonists reminded the British ministry
that they
were unrepresented in Parliament. Taxation without representation was
monstrous. It was simply legalized robbery. But the ministry were
arrogant, and
Parliament conceited, and taxes were imposed. The ministry tried first
to
enforce navigation laws, which had been a dead letter; and Parliament
passed
the stamp act, and imposed other duties. But the spirit of our fathers
was
aroused. If obnoxious duties were authorized,

they
resolved that they
would forego the use of the articles whereon they were imposed. They
made
compacts with one another not to import the objectionable goods. So
resolutely
did they keep their agreement that British merchants found their trade
seriously curtailed, and besought Parliament to repeal the offensive
statutes.
It unwisely kept the irritation alive by claiming the right to impose
on the
colonies taxes at pleasure.

For
nine years prior to the burning of the Gaspee,
the British ministry and the colonists had been at strife over the
matter of
taxation. Up to 1772 the strife had been bloodless. In the spring of
that year,
the armed schooner Gaspee appeared in
the waters of Narragansett Bay to aid in enforcing the revenue laws.
She was
commanded by Lieut. William Dudingston. He was evidently a somewhat
conceited officer,
but still energetic and alert. While failing to understand the temper
of Rhode
Islanders, he sought to win the approbation of his superiors by
excessive
vigilance. In a little time he made himself generally detested.
Frequently annoying
vessels peaceably navigating the bay, he allowed himself sometimes to
detain
them with scarce a pretext. He stopped occasionally even market boats,
and more
than once plundered the people on shore. He violated, indeed, the
Charter of
the colony by failing to show his commission, and though an act of
Parliament
ordained that trials on property seized be held in the colony where the
seizure
was made, he had the impudence to send captured property to Boston.

Of
course, such acts kindled the indignation of our fathers; still they
sought
redress by legal means. Deputy Governor Sessions applied to Chief
Justice
Hopkins for information as to the legality of Dudingston's conduct, and
received a reply from him to the effect that no commander of any vessel
has a
right to use any authority in the body of the colony, without
previously
applying to the Governor, and showing his warrant for so doing, and
also being
sworn to a due exercise of his office."

Correspondence
followed between Gov. Wanton and Lieut. Dudingston. The latter showed a
characteristic insolence, and finally enclosed the correspondence to
Admiral
Montague in Boston. He even addressed an exceedingly impertinent letter
to Gov.
Wanton, ridiculing his course, defending the action of Dudingston, and
even
threatening, in case the rescue of any prize was attempted, " to hang
as
pirates the parties concerned."

Flesh
and blood could hardly endure such insolence. Gov. Wanton, loyalist
though he
afterward showed himself to be, quickly responded to the Admiral in
these terms:
"I do not receive instructions for the administration of my government
from the king's Admiral stationed in America." Meanwhile the Governor
laid
both the Admiral's threatening letter and his reply before the
Assembly, and
that body directed copies of the correspondence to be sent to England,
with an
account of the incidents referred to therein. It may be mentioned that
Lieut. Dudingston
had, in writing to the Admiral, admitted that he had knowingly violated
the law
by sending a captured sloop with her cargo of rum to Boston; and
averred that
he expected the commissioners of customs there to sustain him, which he
did not
believe would be done in Newport.

Of
course, all these matters were known and talked about in Rhode Island.
Sober
citizens asked themselves, Is the navigation of our noble Bay to be at
the
mercy of a conceited underling of the British government? Are our most
honored
officials to be grossly insulted by a petty officer of the British
navy?
Doubtless resentment was kindled which led many to feel that further
subjection
to Britain would be equivalent to slavery. And it was not long before
an opportunity
occurred to show how indignation at pertness and insolence were
weakening the
hands of loyalty.

The
sloop Hannah from New York, reported
at the Custom House at Newport, and the next day prowed up river. The Gaspee as usual, gave chase, and kept up
the pursuit as far as Namquid Point. Here the water shallows, and the
wary
Captain of the sloop kept on his course, knowing that the Gaspee
might run aground. He probably felt no sorrow when he saw
her fastened, but kept on his way to Providence and reported to Mr.
John Brown,
one of the most respectable merchants of the place, the plight of the Gaspee.

Mr.
Brown feels that now is a time for
ridding the Bay of a nuisance. He therefore directs one of his most
reliable
shipmasters to collect eight of the largest longboats, with five oars
each, to
muffle the oars and rowlocks, and to place them at Fenner's wharf.
Shortly
after sunset, at the time when the shops were usually shut, a man
passed along
the Main Street, beating a drum and apprising the people that the Gaspee was aground on Namquid Point, and
would not float off ‘til three o'clock the next morning. He further
invited
those who might be disposed to go and destroy that hurtful vessel, to
go in the
evening to Mr. James Sabin's.

The
last survivor of the party died in 1841, but he testified two years
before his
death, that he repaired to the designated house about nine o'clock,
taking with
him his father's gun, and his own powder-horn and bullets. He found a
room full
of people, some casting bullets in the kitchen, and others arranging
for their
departure.

At
ten o'clock the company received orders to embark. A sea captain acted
as
steersman for every boat. Resolutely the rowers urged their boats
toward the
fated vessel, and when within sixty yards, heard the sentinel's hail,
"Who
comes here?"

The
party have no time for idle talk, and gave no answer. The sentinel
hails again,
and silence still prevails. Dudingston now appears clad only in his
shirt,
mounts the gunwale, and shouts again, "Who comes here?" Still
no response, and he hails again.

Now
the silence is broken by Capt. Whipple who answers Dudingston's
inquiry, by
indulging in vigorous imprecation. "I am the sheriff of Kent County . .
.
I have got a warrant to apprehend you . . . So surrender." . . . As
soon
as Lieut. Dudingston began to hail, Joseph Bucklin says to a companion,
"Reach me your gun, I can kill that fellow." Ere Capt. Whipple has time
to finish the answer, Bucklin fired and Lieut. Dudingston fell. Happily
he was
not killed, and a surgeon accompanying the party, was ordered to go to
the cabin,
and dress the wound of the lieutenant.

In
less than a minute after Whipple's reply, the boats were alongside, and
the Gaspee was conquered without opposition.
The sailors retreated below, and the mischievous cruiser was a prize.

To
prevent any troublesome controversy as to the ownership of the craft,
her crew
were ordered to take their effects and haste to the shore. Dudingston
was
landed at Pawtuxet, and meanwhile the leaders of the Providence company
set the Gaspee in flames and burned her to
the water's edge. Rhode Island is therefore entitled to the distinction
of
firing the first shot in the war of the Revolution.

As
we said before, it was nearly three years before the conflict became
general,
but it was a party of Rhode Island volunteers, that first checked
British
arrogance. Of course Gov. Wanton offered a reward for the detection of
the audacious
band, and the British authorities offered a great sum for the
conviction of the
incendiaries, but nobody could be found who knew anything about the
matter,
more than if it had been a case of spontaneous combustion. The drama
proved to
be, however, the opening of the Revolution.